Renovations have been underway at the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market and the end result are vendors who essentially have their own individual stores.

Hania Nahachewsky, President of the Board of Saskatoon Farmer’s Market says throughout the winter, through sponsorship and donations, and with the vendors taking part in the actual build, booths have been constructed. And when they ran short of funds Hamm Construction stepped in to help them complete the project.

The renovations, ongoing all winter, wrapped up Thursday and all the vendors will be in their new spaces this Saturday. The Saskatoon Farmer’s Market is open Saturday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Nahachewsky says relocating from downtown to the north end of the city has been a benefit because the people who frequent the market, do so to buy, “The vendors here are making more money here, because it’s the customers that come they’re actually buying stuff now, we don’t have the people that are just wandering around.”

She also notes the parking lot is large and the parking is free. Nahachewsky says when they did the online market during the COVID-19 lockdown they kept track of postal codes and saw a lot of customers coming from Martensville, Warman, Hague, Osler, Lawson Heights, Kensington and even Stonebridge, which she attributes to easy access off the freeway. And when the did a survey prior to leaving the downtown location, she says 94 per cent of respondents said they arrived at the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market by vehicle versus cycling or walking.

The Saskatoon Farmer’s Market is located on Koyle Avenue and marked their first year at the new location this past March. Nahachewsky says three weeks after opening in 2020 they had to shut down because of COVID. She says their wonderful staff had an online store up and running in 36 hours and it was an amazing feat because they had to fill, every Saturday, for ten weeks, 400 to 600 orders in four to five hours. She expects the online component to continue going forward.